Family Bonds
by Divinion
Summary: [2-Shot] Gildarts explores the possibility that Cana may not be his only child...
1. Part 1

**Part 1**

The entire guildhall seemed to turn still in that moment. The laughter quietened. Vijeeter's dancing stopped. Nab looked away from the mission board. The cigars fell out of Wakaba and Macao's mouths. Mirajane, however, did not seem to notice. She tilted her head very slightly to the side, her platinum blond hair falling around her face. "You must have thought of that before," she said to her most profitable customers, blinking in confusion.

Cana and Gildart's faces were both screaming the answer. They both looked pale, both with their mouths hanging open and shaking. They had not even considered the fact that Giladarts Clive may have had more than one illegitimate child.

"A brother… or sister…?" Cana stammered.

"Another son or daughter?!" Gildarts asked, his eyes lighting up just a little too much.

Mirajane shrugged as she gave her sweetest of smiles. "Of course!" she explained to them offhandedly. "If Gildarts didn't know that Cana was his daughter it's always possible that there are others. They might not even know themselves."

Cana pushed herself away from the bar. The world was spinning unsettlingly. In all of the time that she had been desperate to build the courage to make herself known to her father, how could she not have even considered that their family could be even greater? Even when Gildarts had tried to guess her mother he'd spiralled off a thousand names, any one of which may bear an unknown half-sibling. She didn't know whether to curse herself or drown away her stupidity, but since the drink was already in her hands…

"I could have another kid!" Gildarts was already shouting as he leaned over the bar, violently shaking the barmaid in his excitement, "How incredible would that be?! Why didn't I think about this before? I wonder what they're like!"

"Gildarts," Cana growled his name, a sharp reminder that she only called him 'father' when she was in the mood, and right now she was very much not. He was getting ahead of himself, and she could see where this was going: Some long journey to find more broken parts of himself and some other poor child that would be forced into his love. Not that it was _that_ terrible, but she still braced herself for a disaster. "We don't even know if there is anyone else. I mean, what are the chances?"

The crash mage paused, staring back at her. A grin grew. The chances were exceedingly high. "I'm gonna have another son or daughter!" he celebrated.

Cana rolled her eyes, pointedly looking away as she pulled out her deck and began to flick through her beloved cards. She wasn't sure how she felt about it, but refused to commit to feeling it either way while it was nothing but pipe dreams. Gildarts could have his happiness for now. Perhaps it would be a good thing if he had someone else to shower, maybe someone that would appreciate his intense personality more than she did. He had a lot of love to give.

"How do we find them?" Gildarts asked Mira.

"Hm, I'm not sure," Mirajane answered truthfully, her finger tapping her chin in contemplation. "I suppose it would be out of the question to just ask your past lovers if any of them had a child?"

Gildarts let out a loud laugh as he scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, that could take a while!"

"Dad."

Cana still looked away from him, her chin in her hand, but the cards were spread out and pointed towards him.

He blinked. Now didn't particularly seem the time for a fortune telling, but he knew how much they meant to his daughter. It was always a pleasure to have anything given to him by Cana, even if he didn't see how it logically followed, but he nodded and tapped towards one of the cards, careful not to touch them and once again receive her wrath.

She gave a small sigh as she pulled out his chosen card and placed it face first on the table. "Three of swords," she read aloud, sliding it across the bar, narrowly dodging the beer spills. It was one of many beautiful designs, decorated with the named three swords, each one slicing through a giant red heart. "It means unexpected separation. And that there are three of us."

Gildarts eyes widened. It seemed that everyone in the guild was leaning closer now, trying to pay attention to the card mage and her family revelations. She appeared almost disinterested as she continued to shuffle the pack of cards, spinning them across her hands before selecting three and placing the pack back into her satchel. She was amazingly calm as she moved, her hands staying still as she practised her art as she continued to act completely detached and objective.

"You can find them?!" Gildarts asked her, looking at his daughter with that overflowing glow of pride.

Cana let a small smirk cross her face. It was almost too easy. "Are you sure you want to, old man?"

He looked confused for a moment before a serious look reappeared on his face. "Whatever we find, it won't make me love you any less, Cana. You'll always be my little girl."

She rolled her eyes. "Give it a break, dad," she groaned, turning over the first of the three cards as she took his kindness as confirmation to continue. The first card, beneath and to the left of the original card. "The Knight of Wands," she read, looking curiously at the embellishment. The figure was an armoured man with a wild horse that appeared barely under control, carrying a long stick.

"What does that mean?" Gildarts asked curiously, leaning forward as most of the guild seemed to repeat his action to take a better look at the card.

"Well, it's… a masculine card," she said. Although many of her cards had men or women displayed on them, it was rare for them to have this level of energy towards one particular gender. It was a brother. There was no other possibility she could see, and she suddenly felt her heart racing at the realness of it all. She had a brother, and one who's description was… less than surprising. "It's a particularly strong card, representing a wild personality. Someone who often travels to far lands and takes the road less travelled."

Gildarts treasured every single word. He did not stop staring at the card in front of him, the same thoughts obviously racing through his own mind. It was a brief description, but it only made him want more, to put a face and a name behind the cryptic messages.

Cana paused, letting him soak in the small pieces of information. He had only very recently realised that he'd had a daughter, and now was being told about other poor bastards (literally) that existed. She couldn't imagine how that must have felt, or whether his excitement was hiding something more cautious inside. "Do you want me to go for the next one…?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

He nodded quickly. A beaming grin written across his face.

She tried to ignore it as she turned over the next card. This one was not so pleasant, and even Gildarts realised as he looked up instantly to Cana, waiting to be told a better outcome than what it seemed. "What does that one mean?" he asked, less than patiently.

Cana frowned. "The Hanged Man," she read, the card reluctantly leaving her fingertips as it hit the table directly beneath his broken heart. It wasn't a graphic card by any means, a man surrounded by light and hanging upside down on the tree, but the implications were dark. As her magical energy flowed through her cards she could not help but feel the resistance. "It has a couple of meanings. It can mean transition or a permeant change, you know similar to the _death_ card... Or it can mean self-sacrifice. It's a card all about risk."

"Why would it be on my child's card?" Gildarts asked, shifting back in his seat.

"Honestly? I don't know. These cards have a mind of their own-" she cut off her sentence as her fingertips rested on the third and final card. Something felt strange. Something flickered under her fingers, almost like a static shock. Curious, she turned over the last card.

Gildarts, wishing nothing more than for better news, examined the third child's card. "The Queen of Cups?" he asked, looking back at her. "What's that one supposed to be?"

Cana smirked to herself. She turned away from her tarot, grasping her nearest drink. "It means they have a fucking sense of humour. And sometimes they can be pretty damn _literal_ ," she chuckled under her breath, sipping the sweet nectar.

"That's you?!" Gildarts finally realised, seeing the similarities between the overflowing cup and Cana's drink.

She didn't give much of an answer, merely shrugging in a vague agreement. She could only assume that the card meant she was a literal queen of beverages. Being a quiet, sensitive, emotionally mature woman didn't feel fitting to her personality, or the personality of anyone in Fairy Tail.

Even before she put down the tankard, she'd scooped the three cards into her free hand and was charging them with her magical energy. They glowed a wonderous golden colour, a soft buzzing filling her ears as they began to float away from her fingers. Then, suddenly, they flew through the air. Around the Crash mage and smashing into the wall behind, straight towards where the map of Fiore rested on the wall. The three implanted themselves firmly into the parchment and woodwork in varying places, amongst the old notes and scratches from the Alverez war.

Amongst the most heavily marked position, and the most familiar one, a card pressed against the location of Fairy Tail building. As Cana casually stood and walked to the map, she smiled rather proudly. "At least we know it's working," she said, pulling on her own face-card and tapping at the Fairy Tail location. She took a small step back to examine the rest of the map, her hands on her hips as she looked at the other cards placements. "This is where your other kids are, dad."

Gildarts almost fell over his chair as he scrambled over to the map. He half-ran and half-crawled, hitting the very bottom one first and pointing towards what looked to be a mistake. "This one isn't even on the map…"

Cana seemed less than surprised, though, tugging against the mentioned card until it was freed. "Our brother Knight of Wands. I did tell you he was a traveller. You'll need a bigger map for that one," she said with a shrug.

The crash mage nodded slowly. It wasn't as if his own travels had been contained only by the boundaries of Fiore, and at least knowing that he would be somewhere in the world was enough for now, and an adventure for another day. It meant that he could focus his efforts on the one remaining card on the board; The Hanged Man. "Crocus," he read. The capital city of Fiore, and the biggest and busiest place to try and find someone that was lost.

He stood up to his full height, staring down at the instructions to find his second child. Or perhaps his first. He knew nothing about him except for the deceptive messages that Cana's reading had given, and possibly most important he didn't even know if the mystery child even knew about his existence. He may have had his own life, his own parents and someone else to call 'father'. Regardless, he could not try. Gildarts had already spent too many years without his beloved daughter; if another child was out there he couldn't rest until he laid eyes on him or her.

"Pack your things, Cana."

Cana spat out her beer all over the guild floor. Her eyes looked as if they were going to fall out of her skull. "Wait, me too?!"

He looked innocently confused. "You don't want to meet your brother or sister?"

"I don't-I-That's not what I-!" she stammered, taking a wobbling step back. She just hadn't expected it. She hadn't expected any of this, but Gildarts had never asked if she wanted to go on a mission with him before. This was different, of course, and this was family, but they had always been at such vastly different levels that until recently she hadn't been able to see herself as standing by his side through anything.

She growled to herself. That look across his face looked too hurt, too confused and disappointed. He loved her too much, she decided. It was cringeworthy, but it was sweet, and it was everything that she'd ever wanted as a child. "Fine," she agreed, trying not to look too bitter or too excited when she couldn't decide which one she felt most. "Let's go find our family."

* * *

The journey to Crocus was an awkward one.

Gildarts was not used to company, at least not the kind of company that he would have from Cana. At first, he enjoyed talking to her, telling her stories about his travels and the daring adventures he had taken, but it didn't take long for him to realise that she was starting to zone out from them. She looked anxious, tapping her leg and staring out of the carriage window instead of listening to him.

This was the sort of thing that no S-Class training could prepare him for.

"You know I meant it, don't you?" he asked in a low voice as he leaned closer, wondering if it would be appropriate to throw his arms around her or take her hand.

"Hm?" She could not have sounded more disinterested.

"When I said that this other child will not replace you, I meant it," he insisted, watching her seriously and waiting for some kind of reaction to his words. "You are my daughter and that means the world to me. Having more than one of you just means that there will be more love. It'll be exciting for you to find a brother or sister! You can have someone around when I'm not there."

"Yeah, I guess," she said simply, keeping her eyes out of the window as she watched the huge wide walls of the capital city grow closer and taller, memories of the Grand Magical Games flooding through.

"I wonder if they're a wizard too," Gildarts remarked with a hoarse laugh, leaning back on the chair and spreading out his arms around him.

She gave a brief whisper of a smile, throwing a casual look back to him. " _Dad_ , they're related to you. I don't think there's any chance they won't be."

"That's true!" he exclaimed heartily, his laughter roaring louder. It was nice to see her smile, but even nicer to hear her calling him that name. It could take years for him to hear that from anyone else, and the possibility that he never would had certainly crossed his mind, but for now having one daughter's love was a marvellous gift he could have never dreamed of. "Oh, it looks like we're here. How did you say we were going to find this place again?"

Cana didn't answer, turning back to the windows and watching as the people began to surround the carriage. This was the Crocus she loved. The one that was alight with life and joy and people excitedly running around just having their normal lives. It had been a long time since she'd come here last, and most of the buildings had been mostly destroyed by dragon fire then. The city had done well to repair itself. It wouldn't be too long until the next Grand Magic Games would begin, and then they would return to this place for a very different ambition.

As she watched the streets and people and banners hanging high, she realised that she was avoiding the inevitable. She was going to meet this stranger whether she liked it or not. It was something that her father needed to do, that much was clear, but she was afraid that he was going to end up hurt somehow. The card's emblem burned in her mind: The Hanged Man. What did that even mean? Sacrifice. Risk. Martyrdom. It usually implied such a sense of _permanency_ that she worried their next steps would take them on a journey they would not be able to turn away from.

"We need to buy a better map," she said finally. "And I need a drink."

Once they reached the centre of the city, the carriage stopped, and the driver wished them the best luck. They opted to stay in The Bar Sun since that was where their guild spent the last time in the city, and they were pleasantly informed that due to the surging popularity they have given to the place, their night and drinks were free. Cana was about to laugh in their faces at such a ridiculous and unprepared offer, but Gildarts quickly reminded her that they had more important things to do than sit and drink. She greatly disagreed with his definition of 'important', but found herself promptly dragged out of the establishment and their search officially began.

"Left," she said with a low hum, looking at the cheap pendulum that she had bought to help pinpoint her magical energy. The card of The Hanged Man still rested in her hand, tucked between the pages of the map and charging the directions her crystal indicated. "Not long now."

"What do you think he's like?" Gildarts asked, sounding more like a child himself than a father.

She had already given her description, she thought with a mild frown, but even she knew that hadn't given any real answers. She had only raised more questions. "He – or she – could be anyone. They could be an abandoned orphan, or they could have a father that they don't realise isn't related to them. He might have known this entire time that you're his real father and never had the courage to go up and speak to you…" _They could be just like me_ , the thought slowly dawned on her. There could be another soul tortured by their own lack of confidence. If it had been her, if someone had revealed to Gildarts before she was ready, Cana was sure she would have subjected them to the worst layer of hell. Something about this entire situation felt uncomfortable to her.

Gildart's arm was suddenly over her shoulders, that affectionate and overbearing smile written across his stubbled chin. "If they're any bit as good as you, I think that it'll be fine."

She wanted to scream at him that she'd lost her concentration. He was too loud and too intense and throwing this whole _father_ thing straight into her face, yet again. But she blushed. He was just too kind, too excited, too naïve. She leaned in just for a second, embracing his pride in her and feeling strangely protective of the vastly stronger man. Of every piece of worry she felt for this meeting, what she dreading the most was that he would be hurt. "Thanks, dad…" she whispered.

The pendulum stopped.

They stopped. They were here.

A duck egg doorway which was barely tall enough to fit someone of Gildart's height stood before them, cute hanging baskets filled with colourful roses swinging gently on either side. It was a plain, cosy looking home with no distinct markings or features to set it apart from any other building on the street.

But behind this door was her brother or sister. The Hanged Man. The mysterious stranger that could literally turn their lives upside down. Beside her, she could also feel Gildarts tense, more so than she'd ever known him to throughout every battle they'd fought together. Despite everything that he'd said, she realised now that he was truly afraid, and in a strange way that made her feel more comforted. He was being sensible and keeping some reservations.

Her hand slipped into his, a wry smile on her face. "Do you want to do this?" she asked.

He looked back to her. His hand in hers, a smile on her face. Her smile was so much like her mother's, her eyes had the same soft kindness that he'd never been able to muster. She was lucky to have such a wonderful mother to make her such a wonderful person, but there had been plenty of lovers that had not been quite so kind. Then there would be the chance they'd take all of his worst traits…

But whoever that child had become, whoever they had grown or would grow to be, it was still _his_ child.

He nodded, his smile growing once again as he gave her hand a firm squeeze, before releasing it and knocking on the door.

There was no answer. For a long time they stood in the alleyway, letting the whistling wind pass through them. Cana moved over to one of the windows, peering inside as Gildarts struck the door a second time.

"You're sure this is the place?" he asked his daughter.

Cana nodded, peering deeper inside. "I'm sure," she said, certain of her card's accuracy. If it had led them here it had led them here with purpose, in that she trusted her cards above anything or any one in the world. But she definitely shared her father's concerns as she looked at the insides of the house. Everything wasn't just normal, it was also incredibly tidy. Tiny little ornaments lined the windowsill, mostly trinkets – some of which she even recognised as the merchandise sold during the last Grand Magic Games – and a few odds and ends which she didn't recognise. More flowers rested in vases dotted around the cosy home. The living room had plush looking chairs and none of the chaos she expected to see from a young adult's home.

The door creaked open a fraction. Cana and Gildarts both turned, eyes wide with anticipation to witness their long lost relative.

An aged woman stared out from the darkness inside with strangely sharp eyes. She held onto the doorframe, appearing so frail and aching that she needed the support to simply keep herself upright. She also appeared less than pleased to be disturbed; her smile towards them both was strained, and she made no attempt made to step into the light of the alleyway. "Can I help you, dears?" she whispered with a broken voice.

Cana blinked. This wasn't what she had expected at all. "Uh, yeah. We're actually looking for someone that lives here. Is your daughter or son home?"

"How old do you think I am?!" Gildarts suddenly snapped back at Cana, gesturing towards the old lady in dismay.

"Fine, _grandchild_ ," Cana said with a small eyeroll.

" _Great-grandchild_ ," Gildarts corrected her further, before looking pleadingly back at the woman.

The old lady glanced between them both as her eyes widened very slightly. She had absolutely no idea what they were arguing over, not that she had expected to have much sense from _these kinds,_ she added to herself as her eyes glanced over Cana's guildmark. "I'm afraid that you must have the wrong house. I don't have any children at all, nor grandchildren or _great-_ grandchildren."

Gildarts and Cana looked at her with both disbelief and dismay.

"But there-Is there someone else living here then?!" Gildarts said, pointing towards the house and raising his voice in desperation.

"This has to be the place!" Cana insisted, stepping forward.

The woman appeared mildly amused by the interesting pair but shook her head, leaning over her tiny walking stick with a light chuckle. "I'm sorry, there has only been myself here for quite some time now. Now, if you don't mind I have just poured a cup of tea and I do hate for it to go cold," she said.

Cana narrowed her eyes, wondering if she'd imagined a smug smirk from the old woman.

The heartbroken look must have been written across Gildart's face. His mouth opened and closed, waiting for the words that just couldn't materialise themselves. They'd hit one big wall that was completely impassable and now he was beginning to question if there was even anything behind it at all. He'd seen Cana's power, he'd seen her spells and her amazing skills at fortune telling, how was it even possible for her to be so incredibly wrong? "There must be something…" he murmured. "There must be _someone_! Someone here, someone that comes here! Anyone around Cana's age or maybe even younger! Or-or even older! Not too old, but a little older?"

The old woman took a wobbly step back and grasped onto the door-handle. "I'm afraid not," she said. "Goodbye."

The door slammed shut on their faces.

Cana felt her face suddenly burning red. She wasn't wrong, she couldn't be so very wrong about this, and that old woman had ticked off every last nerve that she had remaining. "Rude!" she said, angrily kicking at the door with her heel and almost throwing herself backwards as it hit the surprisingly solid wood. Her teeth gritted hard together, turning back to Gildarts. "She must be lying! There has to be something there!" she insisted, gesturing to the door.

Gildarts didn't know what to believe. He felt his own frustrations and anger, the unmistakable urge to put his hands against the doorframe and let it crumble into nothing. There had to be someone else inside except for the old woman. His child was being kept behind those walls and they were so very close. He felt himself burn with conviction, that there was no wall in existence that he couldn't break down, no door that he would not pass through to get to his son or daughter.

His eyes hit Cana's. He felt her frustration, saw her shaking with anticipation. She was waiting for him to lash out, to break down the door and claim what they had come so far to find. Her silence urged him on. Her clenched fists and gritted teeth and heavy breathing all begged for him to become the monster and seize what was his.

He shook his head, walking forwards and putting his hands gently on her shoulders. "It doesn't matter," he told her.

Cana's eyes widened. "Wh-what do you mean it doesn't matter? You came this far, you wanted this so much-"

"I want my children to be happy, with or without me," he said, squeezing her shoulders comfortingly. He wanted to love, wanted to feel the love from a child, but this wasn't worth it. If he was going to find this child, it wouldn't be by smashing down the doors to an elderly lady's home. "If they don't want to be found right now, that's fine. We can always try again some other day. And, I always have you."

Cana's lip wobbled. He was saying things just to make her feel better. He was probably incredibly hurt, but she saw him now as stronger than she'd ever seen him. This was the man who disappeared the second that she'd told him she was his daughter. To most it would have seemed like a strange and possibly selfish act, but Cana knew better. It must have killed him, every time she saw him she knew how much he'd missed her, but she'd needed space and he had given it. If that was what was required now, she knew he would wait an age until the perfect opportunity.

"We still have one more to find," she said, slipping The Hanged Man back into her pack and retrieving The Knight of Wands card. "It'll take a while, if you can put up with me for that long."

If a smile could give off real heat, Cana would have been bathed in it. She laughed as she was suddenly scooped into a bear hug, doing very little to fight against it despite feeling her bones close to breaking. They could always return to the house of The Hanged Man on the way home. She knew that there was a time to be close and a time to stay apart. She and Gildarts had spent too much time apart over the years, it was about time that they finally moved forward together, even if it meant being apart from the lost child.


	2. Part 2

**Part 2**

Gildarts couldn't quite believe when he was told that this was the warmest season in this land. Although there was no snow on the ground he could still feel the chill running through his bones with every step. Not that it was something he would have admitted, however, believing at the time he was far too well travelled and wildly powerful to be brought down by the cold. He was a S-Class mage of Fairy Tail now after all, a new title which he had grown highly proud of and had already won him the hearts of more than a few women.

This was not the first time that he had been in this desolate corner of the world. It was bleak and sorely devoid of most of his favourite things in the world, but if there was one thing that he could count on even in the middle of nowhere was that there would always be at least one beautiful thing, usually in the form of a stunning woman. In the case of the cold and unwieldy world of Isvan, her name was Ur Milkovich. She was not the typical woman that Gildarts would usually spend company with. She wasn't striking in her beauty, her hair had been chopped short and her skin was rough and cold like the wilderness around her, but there was something hardened in her eyes, an edge of power that he had not been able to forget.

Luckily, she had not forgotten him either. As soon as the saw one another they had began to talk, comparing their adventures years ago to their current lives. She had teased him for the lack of warming clothes and he had pointed out her own. He had bragged about becoming an S-Class wizard and she had questioned the wellbeing of his guild. He asked about her husband and she laughed. "I'm surprised you remembered him."

"Well, I remember that he was away a lot," he pointed out.

She nodded, tossing her hair back as she continued to walk through the barren path. "He was, yes. He's… away for good, this time," she told him.

"I'm sorry to hear that…"

She snorted, not believing the kindness of his statement. "No, you're not! And don't even start to think it was anything to do with _you_ , either. It was a mutual decision. Now he can go off and see the world and I don't have to spend another second waiting around for him. And I can stay here, just me and my Ultear."

"Ultear?"

That was the first time he heard of Ur's daughter. The first time that he'd seen Ur's eyes truly light up since he'd met her, the first time that she saw her hardened skin flush with real colour. Once she'd started, she talked about her daughter endlessly, of the most obscure and wonderful things that she could think of. She told him stories of the discoveries that the girl had made while reading her endless books, the funny face she had pulled when she turned away her breakfast, the silly little moments that every mother held close to their chest.

"She sounds wonderful," Gildarts told her genuinely, wondering how any man could have possibly walked away from the life that Ur was describing. It was a good job that he had no idea what the absent father looked like, otherwise he would have been ready to teach him a lesson on sight. "I'd love to meet her."

Ur stopped in her tracks, giving Gildarts a strange look. He could only assume that it was happiness, but in a way that he'd never seen, as if there was something stopping her from showing the true extent of her joy or wariness. "I'd love for you to meet her," she said eventually, taking his hand and dragging him along. "I need your help."

If there was one thing that he never expected Ur to say it was that she needed help. As it turned out, it was more of a request for assistance than an actual _need_ , but he appreciated the excuse for her company. She pulled from her backpack a small series of plants and herbs and instructed him to keep an eye out for the green-life, commenting that it would be much easier to find in the 'warmer' months. Some of them, like lavender and dandelion, he recognised easily, but the others he had either never seen before or never paid much attention to. He had no idea what the meaning of the scavenging was, but he gladly agreed, noticing quickly that Ur paying attention to the task with a fevered determination.

With a backpack filled with foul- and sweet-smelling greens, they made their way to the top of the wasteland where Ur's tiny cabin rested on a seemingly empty valley. She walked up to the front door with a quick and determined steps, hovering at the handle before turning to look back at Gildarts. "She'll be excited to see you. She doesn't get many visitors."

Before Gildarts could question this, Ur threw open the door. "Ultear!" she called through as she threw her bag onto the table, pulling away at her scarf. "Joyce! I'm home!"

The child ran out of the room, a beaming smile written across her face as she darted through their tiny home. She stopped only as she saw the stranger, her eyes turning wide as she hovered back.

A second woman, supposedly Joyce, stepped out of the room that Ultear had just ran from, with far more patience and slower movements. "I was starting to wonder where you'd been," she said with a soft smile, glancing between the pair with looks of excited curiosity.

"I bumped into an old friend. Gildarts, this is Joyce, and this little troublemaker is Ultear," she said, grinning from ear to ear as she picked up the tiny girl and held her on her hip, nuzzling her and making the girl giggle and squeal away. "Ultear, this is Gildarts. He's my friend, and he comes all the way from Magnolia. Do you know where Magnolia is?"

Ultear seemed to think for a second, her features frowning in thought. He couldn't quite believe just how much she looked like her mother with such a serious expression on her face. "In Fiore?" she answered correctly.

"That's right! Why don't you show Gildarts the books you have on Fiore?"

Ultear nodded quickly, turning to the stranger with fascination. "Come on!" she instructed him, and as soon as she was lowered back down to the ground she slipped her hand into the older man's and began to drag him away. "I have so many!"

As soon as he held her hand he could tell two things. The first was that it was warm, so much warmer than her mother's. At first, he thought it was because he had grown used to the cold, and Ur would always have a particularly chilly aura. But the second part which was undeniable. The little girl must have only been five or six, but he could feel the sheer power resonating from her, quite unlike anything else that he'd ever felt before. It was as if she was a walking lacrima that was somehow leaking a constant flow of magical energy.

"How was she today?" he could hear Ur whispering to the babysitter as he was led on.

"Much better than yesterday. She's had quite a lot of energy so far, though she did get quite-"

He didn't hear the rest. He was placed onto the bed like a ragdoll, a book flopped into his hands as the young child started to flick through the pages. "You see? This is where Magnolia is," she said, pointing down to a huge map coloured across the pages.

He nodded, as if he was starting to understand something that was slowly slipping into place. He didn't have much experience with children, or really any at all, but he knew well enough that this girl through her excitement and her bright smile looked _tired_. Her cheeks were flushed with a rosy pink and her eyes glazed, but she watched him with intent that was beyond her young years. "So, it is…" he said, clearing his throat and looking back down at the pages. It was a difficult book for a young woman, and for her to remember such a small place from the many pages of countries was quite a feat.

"My daddy is travelling, that's what mummy says," she explained, as if she could somehow hear his observations. "One day, I'm going to see the world too. I want to see the sea. Did you know there are islands filled with demons? And giant libraries that hold every kind of magic in the world!" she told him, sounding smug as she began to reel off as much information as she could about the mysterious and mystical places all around the world. "And here- there are islands that are hot all year around because of the con-conve-…?"

"Oh, that one I've heard of!" Gildarts suddenly sat upright, looking at the place where she had pointed to, the secret islands that he had travelled to gain his S-Class title only a few short years ago. "Convection currents, and you're right it is _hot_."

"You've been there!?" she gasped.

"Gildarts is a traveller too," Ur's voice sang over the room. She leaned on the doorway, supposedly already having let Joyce go about her way, and in her hands rested a mug filled with the scents of their recently collected specimens.

Ultear's eyes seemed to go even wider, sitting up on her knees and practically climbing on top of the Fairy Tail mage. "Really? You've been everywhere? Is that why your hair looks burnt?"

Gildarts laughed. Ur frowned, giving Ultear an affectionate scold. "Ultear, that isn't nice. Now, drink your medicine," she told her, running one hand through her hair while the other awarded her with the sickening smells. It seemed to be something that the small girl was used to, at least, as she quickly pulled the mug close and drank it down with minimum fuss. It could not have been pleasant, but she was good and appeared incredibly proud of herself as she passed the empty mug back to her mother.

It was Gildarts reward to her for drinking the horrible concoction that he should give her stories. He tried his best to filter those that included his crudest pastimes, and something that was unsurprisingly difficult to do, but he managed to keep her attention. She seemed to be fascinated with the words, and watched him with more focus than he could have ever expected from one so young. Even when he saw her beginning to flag, when her eyes were beginning to drop, she kept insisting that she wanted to hear more. He could tell that it not only interested her, but Ur was smiling the whole time, watching the pair and barely saying a word, and so he continued for as long as he could.

Before long, Ultear had curled herself up into the huge man's arms, and he hadn't even noticed that she'd fallen asleep. When he finally realised all was quiet, he stopped. He didn't move, looking down at her and once again finding himself wonder what kind of father could turn his back on such a beautiful little girl. She was sweet and curious, but with the same sharpness of her mother. Looks-wise, the two were near identical.

"What's wrong with her?" he asked eventually.

He'd never seen Ur flinch before. He'd never seen her as anything but pure strength and resilience, but whatever it was that was eating her daughter inside was clearly tearing through her own mind. "They say she has too much magical energy."

He nodded with a sad frown, ever so gently moving his arm to give better support to the sleeping girl. "That's not surprising considering how strong you are."

"Her father was just as strong, if not stronger," Ur whispered.

He almost laughed too loudly out of surprise, catching himself just in time. "I find that hard to believe."

She didn't respond. Her eyes drifted back down to the young girl, the silence fractured between every heavy breath. "I'm trying to teach her Ice Make, as a way of channelling the energy. I don't think she'll be much of an Ice Maker, though. In my lessons she just copies me, and don't get me wrong she's incredibly skilled but I've never seen her try and create something… unique. Still, one day she'll find a use for that power, but for now we can do nothing but contain it…"

"Do you think she'd like to learn crash magic?"

It was Ur's turn to almost laugh, shaking her head quickly. "I've seen you almost tear down entire cities after a few drinks, I don't feel like I would trust that magic to a six-year-old. But thank you. Besides, I expect you won't stay long enough to teach it."

He frowned, the truth sinking in quickly. He wasn't supposed to be here for long at all. He tried to make a habit of shifting from land to land as quickly as he could, avoid any attachments and gain all the power that he could accumulate along the way. It had been working well so far. He'd broken hearts but won so many more, he'd become an S-Class champion and spent his time doing nothing but the most difficult of challenges. He was so much stronger and braver and more powerful than the man who had been in Isvan seven years ago, even if it still felt the same to be in Ur's company. He was starting to enjoy it, and knew that once again he had to leave soon.

"I'm already running late…" he lied awkwardly, shuffling like he was in some sudden urgency. "I shouldn't have been out here. But tell you what… I'll come by again. I promise. And by then, she'll be better again. I'll have a lot more to tell her and she'll have more to show me."

Ur had a soft smile written across her face, a look that he would never forget. There was the pleased calmness that she had gained from being in the same room as her child, the love that glowed softly as she gazed upon her. There was the hollow sadness that rested in the back of her eyes as she looked down at the sickness and soaked in the smell of the horrific medicine. And then there was something else, a reaction to his words and a pain that seemed to stab through her heart. A feeling that was all too familiar, a question that she had asked to a man she loved too many times before.

"How long will that take?" she asked.

"Soon," he promised. "I'll be back in no time! You'll see."

Ur gave a heavy sigh. "In which case… I suppose we can talk then," she said, standing and slowly pulling the sleeping girl out of her father's arms. She lovingly laid her down on the bed, pressing a soft kiss against her forehead and whispering to her the warmest of wishes, sending all her prayers to their beautiful daughter.

It was a promise that he did not keep. They did not talk again.

It would take him almost three years to come back to Isvan, just in time to cross paths with a young Ice Maker boy who would tell him terrible news of his master's sacrifice.

It would take him ten years to be in the same place at the same time as the young girl, who would have by that point become a young woman. They would both be upon that strange island where the convection currents kept it warm all year around, but still he would not lay eyes upon her.

It would take over twenty years to finally knock on her door and ask if she knew of anyone who could be his child. The little girl, who had since turned into an old woman before her time, would politely decline, close the door, and they would never speak again.


End file.
